[Peripheral facial paralysis and post-antirabies-vaccination polyneuroradiculitis (author's transl)]

A case of facial diplegia with albuminocytologic dissociation of cerebrospinal fluid after antirabies vaccination prompts the author to attempt a retrospective study of post-antirabies-vaccination neuropathies, with facial or extensive involvement. Fifty-seven cases are considered. Irrespective of vaccine type, certain clinical similarities emerge, notably the age of occurrence (adult), the early onset of the paralysis (during vaccine therapy or in the following week), and the prognosis (good survival rate, severity of functional impairment varying with extent of involvement). The author attributes the main pathogenic role to the peripheral myelinic basic protein contained in varying proportions in conventional vaccines, the corollary being that such accidents should disappear completely with the new vaccination based on tissue culture material. A therapy programme comprising the discontinuation of vaccine therapy and administration of corticoids is proposed.